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 George Canyon
Listen now to George Canyon - If I Were Jesus
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Performing:
February 13, 7:30pm - Atlantic Canada House
You can go ahead and just dance to the music of George Canyon, if that’s what you want. He’s a country neo-traditionalist par excellence, producing music situated somewhere between the bright and studio-tooled Nashville ideal and something a little older, with a voice that can soar with emotion or linger in a heavy bottom-end that feels like a kick in the chest from a faith healer. It’s instant.
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When you see the man, with piercing eyes that hang above his square jaw, the star appeal becomes even more obvious, and you remember all those achievements – the string of hits, a shelf-full of Junos and Canadian Country Music Awards, not to mention his rocket-ride to American fame on Nashville Star 2 in 2004, and the subsequent blockbuster albums One Good Friend, and Somebody Wrote Love.
But there’s more to Canyon; a gravity evident in songs like 2007’s “I Want You To Live”, and which leaps from the title song of Canyon’s newest album, What I Do.
“If you were to pick a theme for any of my albums,” he says, “it’s always gonna be somewhat to do with my family, somewhat to do with moral issues, maybe miracles, and faith for sure. My faith plays a very important part in my life. If it wasn’t for that I’d probably be long gone. Who knows where?”
 Jenn Grant
Listen now to Jenn Grant - Heartbreaker
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Performing:
February 15, 9:30pm - Richmond Olympic Zone Celebration Stage
From her debut record, Orchestra for the Moon, Jenn Grant's name has surfaced in four star reviews from Harp and The Globe and Mail, earned her several East Coast Music Awards nominations, and landed her on tours with the Great Lake Swimmers, Hayden, Justin Rutledge, Martin Tielli, Danny Michel, and The Weakerthans.
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There are traces of Orchestra for the Moon in her latest offering, elements that helped shape Jenn’s sound into what it has become. Producer/pianist Jonathan Goldsmith (Bruce Cockburn) leads a heart-on-sleeve band through Echoes: Kinley Dowling on violin, David Christensen on bass clarinet, Sean MacGillivray on bass, Gary Craig on drums/percussion, and Jenn herself on guitar. These are all sincere songs captured in the moment, on tape. Echoes was recorded and mixed with a fully analogue process at Puck’s Farm.
Without the songs being old or feeling old, Echoes’ analog heart reflects the art and the heart of Jenn herself, inciting a familiarity that connects the listener with the roots of music.
 Jill Barber
Listen now to Jill Barber - In Perfect Time
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Performing:
February 22, 8:00pm - Live City Yaletown Celebration Stage
If you believe they don’t write songs like they used to, here is new hope for old romantics. On her new album Chances, Canadian chanteuse Jill Barber picks up the torch where the golden age of music left off. Taking a giant step forward from the typical confines of the singer-songwriter , Jill delivers an album of ten original, fully orchestrated songs that strongly evoke – and could themselves become - classics. From the moment you hear her sultry voice on the opening title track, you are transported to another time and place. “The best songs ever written are the ones that somehow transcend time and fashion, “says Jill. ”They may be old, but they haven’t aged. It is that timeless quality that I aspire to in my own songwriting.
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A seasoned performer with a growing fan base across North America and the UK, Jill gained acclaim as a 2008 double-Juno nominee and multiple East Coast Music Award winner for previous releases For All Time (2006) and Oh Heart (2004). In February 2008, Jill was given the extraordinary chance to perform in concert with Symphony Nova Scotia as part of its Pops Series. The results evoked the rich sounds of Patsy Cline, Edith Piaf and Etta James. It was clear that Jill, previously a self-proclaimed “smoky folkie”, had reached a new level.
To recreate the magic of a live orchestra, Jill enlisted producer and long-time collaborator Les Cooper. His gorgeous arrangements for a skilled backing band with a 10-piece string section were recorded live at The Glenn Gould Studio. Exquisite guest vocals by the Good Lovelies and The Sojourners and a special appearance by Ron Sexsmith contribute to a contemporary album of songs that capture the lush sounds of a bygone era.
“Now I can finally claim to be making ‘popular music’. So what if it’s only what was popular 50 or 60 years ago,” says Jill, who composed many of the songs during an intensive three-week artist residency at The Banff Centre For the Arts. “They were kind enough to give me a studio space and leave me to my own devices. It gave me a chance to devote myself entirely to the writing process.”
 Jimmy Rankin
Listen now to Jimmy Rankin - Morning Bound Train
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Performing:
February 16, 8:00pm - New Songs New Voices - Roundhouse Community Arts Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews Vancouver
February 17, 8:00pm - New Songs New Voices - Roundhouse Community Arts Centre, 181 Roundhouse Mews Vancouver
February 18, 7:30pm - Atlantic Canada House
Like any painter worth his salt, Jimmy Rankin knows how to make a lasting impression.
Except that, as a man who has won four SOCAN-sponsored ECMA-and-Juno Songwriter Of The Year Awards for the chart-topping "Fare Thee Well Love," "You Feel The Same Way Too," "Followed Her Around" and "Midnight Angel," his canvas isn't restricted to an easel and a few tubes of paint.
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It's framed by experience -- and depending on how the Cape Breton native channels his idea -- a masterstroke of an alt. country, adult-contemporary or rock-flavoured arrangement depicting his life, emotions and observations with resonating finesse.
Just hand him a guitar -- preferably an acoustic Gibson; give him a little think-time and watch Jimmy -- no, hear him -- weave some aural magic.
"To me, writing a song is almost like creating a painting," notes Jimmy, who offers 13 picture-perfect portraits of sonic splendour on his new album, Edge of Day.
"You build it and colour it until all of the images blend together as one complete portrait that tells some kind of story."
Whether it's the potent roots-scented shuffle of "Stranded", the guilt-tinged poignancy of the album's first single, "Slipping Away", the urgent fiddle-driven desperation of "Got To Leave Louisiana", the romantic resignation of "Hopeless", or the euphoric optimism of "When I Rise," the musical tales woven on Colin Linden-produced Edge of Day are borne from the days he's spent living, traveling and soaking in the planet since the release of 2003's Handmade.
"Over the past three years I've taken a lot of my inspiration from the world I see around me," says Jimmy, who recorded the album in Nashville at the Rendering Plant and at Pinhead Recorders in Toronto during a busy year that also included a World Vision trip to Nicaragua and a recording reunion of The Rankins.
 Kim Wempe
Listen now to Kim Wempe - Where I Need To Be
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Performing:
February 13 - Atlantic Canada House
“… When Kim opens her mouth she lets loose a powerful force pouring out her emotion with a style that has Janis Joplin written all over it….” ~ Dan MacDonald, Cape Breton Post
With a raw and powerful voice, Kim Wempe leaves an imprint on your soul and a melody you just can’t shake. Her evocative artistic style, fiercely emotional lyrics and honest onstage performance are one of a kind.
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Since her move to the East Coast, Kim has shared stages and stories with some of Canada’s favorite Maritime musical acts, including Jill Barber, Christina Martin, Ryan Cook, Charlie A’Court, Coco Love Alcorn, and Norma MacDonald. Her captivating live show has turned heads and hearts at festivals across the country from Evolve in Nova Scotia to Morfee Mountain in British Columbia and back to Halifax’s In The Dead of Winter Festival.
While Kim’s first full-length album The Last Version (2007) captures a range of toe-tapping rhythms and styles from soulful blues melodies, to jazz-influenced folk tunes, her star is rising with a recent win for the Where I Need to Be EP (2009) at the Nova Scotia Music Awards (Folk Recording of the Year), and an upcoming album, Painting With Tides, due for release in 2010.
 Lennie Gallant
Listen now to Lennie Gallant - The Gypsy Wind
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Performing:
February 16, 7:30pm - Atlantic Canada House
February 17, 4:00pm - Atlantic Canada House
February 19, 6:30pm - Live City Yaletown Celebration Stage
Recognized by his peers as one of Canada’s best performing songwriters, Lennie Gallant is a native of Prince Edward Island now living in Nova Scotia. This prolific songwriter has recorded nine albums (seven in English and two in French), which have won him a host of awards and nominations from both the JUNO Awards and East Coast Music Awards.
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With the release of If We Had A Fire in July 2009 he claims it is his best work yet. Recorded in beautiful St Cecilia Studios on the outskirts of Halifax, the album holds 14 new Gallant songs, performed by the artist and some of the best musicians the East Coast has to offer. This is the follow up to the JUNO nominated album "When We Get There".
He was recently inducted into the Order of Canada where it was said, “Gallant has garnered much respect for his hard hitting songs chronicling the lives of people dealing with tremendous adversity and serious issues. Songs like “Peter’s Dream,” “Island Clay,” “Man of Steel” and “The Hope for Next Year,” articulate the feelings of many caught up in desperate situations beyond their control, and at the same time celebrate the beauty of lifestyle and landscape with their strong poetry and stirring narratives.”
While he says he is much appreciative of this kind of recognition for his work, Gallant feels the best part of being a songwriter is the moment of creation …. “When you really feel locked in with the ability to tell a story or convey an emotion in a unique yet, hopefully, a universal way.” Other artists obviously believe in Gallant’s writing abilities as over 30 artists have recorded his songs internationally, including Jimmy Buffett. "I have always wanted to bring Lennie Gallant’s music to the forefront.” says Jimmy Buffett. His songs have also appeared in feature films, some of which include Canvas, which stared Academy Award-winner Marcia Gay Harden (Mystic River) and Joe Pantoliano from The Sopranos (“Mademoiselle Voulez Vous Danser”, recorded by Jimmy Buffett), Conquest, which stared Lothaire Bluteau (theme song), Sigh and a Wish: Helen Creighton's Maritimes (feature), and The Bellinger (wrote sound track). His songs have been used in television series - Dawson’s Creek (“Northern Lights”), Joan of Arcadia (“Something Unspoken”) and in numerous theatrical productions.
 Matt Mays
Listen now to Matt Mays - Terminal Romance
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Performing:
February 27, 6:30pm - Live City Yaletown Celebration Stage
February 27, 10:30pm - Atlantic Canada House
Hamilton born, Halifax bred Matt Mays has made a career out of defying expectations. From his early days as a member of the seminal ‘alt-country’ group The Guthries, Mays has always zigged when the public has been expecting a zag.
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After departing The Guthries to embark on a solo career Matt released his self-titled debut which maintained the rootsy, laid-back feel of his earlier work but also had a decidedly more rock vibe. The solo debut caused quite a stir across Canada and went on to be nominated to two Juno Awards (New Artist & Adult Alternative Album).
Matt followed this up with the first Matt Mays & El Torpedo album, recorded with the live band he had formed to tour in support of the Matt Mays album. Matt Mays & El Torpedo had quickly evolved into one of Canada’s best live acts. Produced with Grammy Award-winner Don Smith (Tom Petty, Keith Richards), the album’s first single “Cocaine Cowgirl” was a massive hit and the album went on to win four East Coast Music Awards in 2006. The band began working in the US as well, the highlight of which was an appearance on the Conan O’Brien show.
Just when everyone had him tagged as a Tom Petty inspired rock and roller Mays veered off in another direction, producing the music for ill-fated When the Angels Make Contact film. While it confounded many fans the album was a critical success and went on to be nominated for another Juno in the Adult Alternative Album of the Year category. Matt put together an eight piece band to tour the music and visuals from When The Angels Make Contact.
2008 saw the return of El Torpedo and the Terminal Romance album. Produced in the UK with producer Chris Tsangarides (Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, Anvil) the album features the singles “Tall Trees”, “Building A Boat”, and the epic title track. Terminal Romance won the ECMA for Rock Album of the Year in 2008 and was nominated for a Juno in the same category.
Matt’s back in solo mode now, working on material when not on the road with a new band performing material from all four albums.
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